By doing this Churchill has taken away the harmony and commonness of the characters in Act one Scene one and replaced that showing large change between Kit and Angie. By doing this it shows the clear difference in experiences between the top girls and feminists. The same applies to Joyce, although we are told little about her we do know that she considers Angie a burden to her and regrets having her. Churchill also shows Joyce talking to Kit, perhaps again to emphasise the differences between Kit and Angie, Joyce acknowledges Kits intelligence, ‘I know, your clever pet’ which contrasts with her view that school wouldn’t mean anything to Angie. We learn a lot about Joyce’s feelings about life when she talks to Kit about herself and her daughter, she obviously regretted leaving school as when she considers her life now, ‘I didn’t like it, and look at me.’
The language used throughout this seen also makes a great impact on the audience as it is mainly two teenagers talking to each other interrupting and raising their voices to impress each other as they fight to say what they have to say first. An example of this is through the strong uses of swear words throughout this scene, one such example is through the usage of the word ‘cunt’ as this word is also seen as very harsh when said especially when said by a woman to a woman and is therefore strange to see it said in a book based on feminist themes. It seems like by using it Churchill is attempting to remove it from a forbidden status to make it a more commonly used word therefore to remove its offensiveness towards the population of women.
In the first act of the play the audience is told the stories and experiences of the women through the constant conversations during the dinner party, this enables such contrasts and comparisons to be made between the characters, throughout the dinner party more and more alcohol is drank by the ‘Top Girls’ and you begin to see how their true actions and emotions towards themselves and others is more free to take place. Throughout this scene the similarities between the characters are made apparent for example Isabella states ‘I learnt later he died with a bullet in his brain’ and Lady Nijo then states ‘one of my lovers died’, just from these two lines we are made aware that both Isabella and Lady Nijo both lost their love ones at some stage in their life, the audience then begins to feel am extent of sympathy towards the characters, Churchill enables this to happen by having both of the characters explain their stories at the same time through the multiple conversations taking place over the dinner table. This device is made use of throughout the play to enhance the drama throughout the play. The play significantly considers addressing feminist issues, the idea that all characters are equal in the eyes of the audience relates to how women feel they should have equality within society.
A further dramatic device used by Churchill is how the characters treat each other, act one scene one is a perfect example where they are telling their stories of their lives to one another in the opening of the play. It is Isabella who suggests sympathy from the audience by retelling her story of her loss of the death of Nugent and her sister Hennie. But her character is also presented by Churchill as judgemental and challenging, and who constantly interrupts others conversations. Her dialogue is both troubling and confrontational as the audience undergoes irritation and uneasiness with her as they also feel a respect for her love of independence and femininity despite sharing in travelling a role considered for men. All of these events wrap the audience in a maze of compassion; this is however broken by her often materialistic and negative attitude to such things as fashion and clothes.
This diverse image allows the audience to consider whether these women really are ‘Top Girls’ and more drastically whether they are feminists or simply just determined but often self-seeking women who wanted to live their life exactly as they wanted to. Feminism is often considered about equality but the audiences question is whether these women have worked for the greater good of females of simply for themselves.
